Nothing. No one can experience true nothingness, for experiencing something is, well, not truly nothing, to say the least. But Akaishi experienced the "nothing" this morning.

Wide-eyed, he sat tightly on his hospital bed. He felt as if his lungs would escape out of his chest. Why? He remembered nothing about his past. All family, friends, childhood memories and days, all just cleanly wiped out of his mind.

It was a blank canvas, new and white. "Where am I?" he whispered to himself, staring at his bandaged abdomen and hands.

He placed his foot down on the white marble floor. Then the next foot. His eyes observed the entire room, with each blink as if a camera taking photographs.

He started talking to himself, "I am Akaishi. Hinomiya Akaishi to be exact. Age seventeen."

This was it. This was all what he remembered about himself. Nothing more, nothing less. He sat down on the floor, narrowing his eyes. "Strange. If I truly don't remember anything, how do I even know there were memories to begin with? How do I know that I don't remember anything?"

He thought more and more. His eyes dug themselves into his skull as he added: "But it would be false to say, 'I don't remember anything.' I still know my name and age. It's very selective amnesia. Strange." Just like that, he was lost in his thoughts, arms crossed.

Knock Knock

He looked up at the door. Someone was beyond it, and they had knocked. "Oh, it's already open?" The voice said. It was a type of voice one would describe as warm honey. Sweet and comforting. The door slammed open. Bam! A lean man with messy brown hair and a beaming smile dashed in. "Aa-Ka-Ee-Shee!" 

"Who are you?!"

🄽🄰🄼🄴: 🄰🄽🅃🄰🄸 🅁🅄🅂🅂🄾 

Antai held Akaishi tight and made him sit on the bed. Thud! Akaishi shook his head around in pure bewilderment. Just waking up with no memories, and now a shabby-looking man is holding him. It was too overwhelming for him to speak. Yet, he somehow mustered up a little courage. "Wh- what the hell is going on?!"

Antai lifted his head up, placing his hand beneath his chin. "Uh, that makes sense. You must be experiencing memory-loss."

"How do you know what I am experiencing?!"

"Good question. It's all just speculations, though-"

Akaishi grabbed the man's collar. The room's temperature dropped with this. The latter blinked his bright red eyes, while Akaishi kept staring into them. Antai gulped. "Heh."

"Now, answer as I ask. First, who are you? Second, where are we? Third, why are we here?"

Antai smiled, as his fingers fell on the boy's grip. Small fingers, ring fingers, middle fingers, index fingers, and then rolled his thumbs in. The grip loosened more seamlessly than a hot knife cutting through butter.

Antai stood up and gazed back from his shoulder. "It's related to the supernatural."

Akaishi's interest was piqued. "Supernatural?"

"Yes, the supernatural. It is a rare phenomenon, but it sure happens at times. Children can be born with an ability, beyond what our modern technology or military weapons can even dream to achieve."

"I- I- This is too much. Is this a prank?" Akaishi really expected a camera to pop out anytime now. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for him. It was all true. Antai continued, "I work at Ability Detective Organization. You may call it ADO for short."

"First five minutes of my life, and I am hearing about organizations." 

"Yeah, trust me, this is important. We are a group consisting of ability users, except myself, who handle cases related to abilities."

"This all sounds like a plot of an average young adult novel." There was a sense of confusion in those words. No, it was frustration. Already lost in his thoughts of the selective amnesia he is experiencing, this was just too much to swallow.

Antai walked towards the door. Simultaneously he said, "We believe your amnesia is a result of a memory-manipulating ability. Someone, for some unknown reasons might have erased your memory through their ability. Though it's still all speculations."

"So, That means-"

"-You, Hinomiya Akaishi, are my client from now on. I will do my utmost best to uncover your past. I take payments in cash, because I am no charity-man." And with that, Antai stepped out of the room. It got silent real quick. The walls were white, and felt just like the boy's mind.

Still, he had a question left. His overflowing hunger for answers made him stand up and run outside. He turned his head around. On the other end of the corridor was the shabby-looking detective.

"Hey! I still have a question left... Who... Who are you?!"

"Huh?" Antai turned around, subtly smiling. Hand on chest, and a tilted head. His sand-colored trench coat floated back. "Antai... Russo Antai." The voice warmed Akaishi's chest.

"Antai."

And thus began the tale of a boy with no past.